We spend most of our day to day life with our colleagues; it is better to get along with them. It’s not about becoming friends with everyone, it’s about building quality relationships with those around us. This post will explore the essential elements that will allow you to build and maintain quality work relationships.
The importance of good business relationships
Building and maintaining good relationships is crucial. They allow us to significantly increase our personal well-being and our effectiveness at work. They also foster collaboration, motivate the troops and influence a career. That said, forming these meaningful relationships takes time, interpersonal skills and more.
What characterizes a good relationship
While some relationships are fluid and natural, others require some effort to be satisfying and enjoyable. Whether in personal or professional relationships, the following traits are often found:
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- Trust: This is the foundation of any good relationship. By trusting and inspiring your co-workers, it opens the door to a non-judgmental dialogue. Everyone will feel free to express themselves, to bring different ideas and solutions to specific cases. Such an environment is conducive to giving and receiving constructive feedback.
- Respect : Considering others and their differences is as important a trait as trust. This allows for efficiency and innovation to be at the heart of discussions.
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Reciprocity : One-way relationships are unlikey to last over time. Thats why it’s good to know how to make concessions when in a group.
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Open-mindedness: Appreciating people’s differences is an asset when seeking to build new relationships. Being open-minded expands the possibility of a work environment focused on innovation and cohesion.
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Loyalty: This is a trait that goes hand in hand with trust. The more loyal you are to your team, your colleagues and your superior, the more you will be rewarded.
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Interpersonal skills: This is a very useful trait to develop as your career progresses. This includes the ability to adapt your communication to the people you are dealing with and to take an interest in their personal situation and needs.
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Emotional intelligence: To ensure a healthy work environment and lasting relationships, empathize and listen to those around you at work.
Tips for building good business relationships
1. Communicate as much as possible and be honest
A lack of communication can quickly become a problem in a company. It can lead to misunderstandings and thus damage relationships between colleagues. This is why it is important to communicate in the most optimal way possible. Although these exchanges can take place through face-to-face meetings, emails or video conferencing software, good communication must be the priority. The more clearly you express yourself, the more you will be able to eliminate misunderstandings related to lack of communication. Relationships between colleagues will benefit and become healthier and more productive.
2. Be a good listener
The value that listening can bring to our interpersonal relationships should not be underestimated. When we are overwhelmed and our minds are trying to get rid of the overflow of ideas, we can tend to monopolize the floor and ignore the opinions of others in the situation. This is particularly harmful in a working relationship, as they may feel devalued and less inclined to work alongside you. The more you listen to and take into account the opinions of others, the more your own will be heard and counted when making decisions.
3. Be positive
You’ve probably already experienced it: a co-worker keeps talking negatively about the work to be done and spreads his or her bad vibes everywhere he or she goes. This situation is often difficult to tolerate and harms the atmosphere at work. People will be much more willing to listen to you when you adopt a positive and open-minded attitude.
Benefits associated with maintaining good business relationships
There are many benefits to having as many good working relationships as possible. Here are some of them:
- Better career management: **** Needless to say, maintaining good personal or professional relationships is an excellent lever to discover career opportunities and expand our network of contacts.
- Manage tensions effectively: A climate conducive to exchange and constructive dialogue is a good thing when there is understanding and listening. This facilitates the management of possible tensions within the team and/or the company.
- Adopt a more positive attitude towards change: An environment that is conducive to the expression of ideas, questions and doubts certainly leads to more fluid communication and a more positive apprehension of change.
- Gain in efficiency: When you build good relationships with your colleagues or other professionals, you gain in efficiency at work. You will avoid most of the conflict situations resulting from poor communication.
- Foster cooperation and cohesion within the team: Whatever your role within the company, adopting and maintaining good working relationships will ensure collaboration between everyone and encourage the team to engage in constructive discussion.
Thus, the durability of your relationships is practically ensured. All you have to do is try to meet new people, whether in a personal or professional context.